Today the BOCC held a workshop where county staff and the consultant who wrote the economic impact report would report to the commissioners. Let’s cut to the chase: My impression is that despite several commissioners seeming very bullish on the idea of this project, we are still a long way from getting a stadium deal, […]
The White Sox will be trying to salvage a win in a series where they’ve been pretty well thumped in the first two games, and the pitching staff may give a try at keeping the Rays to fewer than eight runs while they’re at it. This will be the first game where there’s no one […]
Go Rays!
Last week, Yankees right-hander Luis Gil made his season debut against the Tampa Bay Rays, allowing three runs in four innings, with three hits, three walks, and just two strikeouts. He was undoubtedly shaky despite limiting the damage somewhat. On Wednesday, he made his second start, and even though there were some improvements, the results […]
Hillsborough County will hold a Rays Stadium workshop this afternoon to consider the funding MOU submitted by the team last week. You can watch the proceedings starting at 1:30 PM. The workshop is largely for commissioners to gather more information, which means it will also be the public’s best opportunity as well. Remember that Florida’s […]
The Rangers won their final game, moved to fourth in draft lottery odds, and gave us one last reminder of why this year was so hard to watch.
We could spend the next 1,000 words breaking down the action of the Tampa Bay Lightning’s 4-2 loss to the New York Rangers in the final game of the regular season. However, nothing structurally or strategically from tonight’s defeat will carry forward into the playoffs. Jake Guentzel, Brayden Point, Anthony Cirelli, J.J. Moser, Ryan McDonagh, and Andrei Vasilevskiy were high-priced fans for the night. The loss didn’t hurt the Lightning and the win didn’t help the Rangers. So, it was meaningles...
For the first time in 15 years, the Rays win on Jackie Robinson Day Donning the light blue Burst jerseys for the first time, Tampa Bay took the field with everyone in uniform wearing number 42, celebrating Jackie Robinson breaking the color barrier on this day in 1947. Junior Caminero would provide the offense to […]
Tonight’s game felt almost like déjà vu from Tuesday. The Rays (10-7) once again put up eight runs while a prominent Chicago prospect made their major league debut, dealing the White Sox (6-12) back-to-back losses, 8-3. Righthander Sean Burke was doing all right through four innings despite giving up a solo shot to Junior Caminero […]
Go Rays!
Happy Jackie Robinson Day to all who celebrate! The White Sox (6-11) dropped the first game of a three-game set with the Rays Tuesday behind Noah Schultz in his MLB debut, and righthander Sean Burke will take the mound in an effort to create any form of positive momentum for the team. As it stands, […]
Join the in-game conversation with the Blueshirt Banter community by becoming a member today!
Game Eighty-Two : New York Rangers (33-39-9) at Tampa Bay Lightning (50-25-6)
Time: 7:00 PM EST
Location: Benchmark International Arena, Tampa – The site of Wayne Gretzky’s final All-Star Game (he had a goal and an assist). Question – who was the Lightning’s All-Star that season?
TV/Stream/Radio: The Spot, MSG, TVAS2, ESPN+, 102.5 FM, Lightning App
Odds: Lightning -115
Know the Opponents: Blue Shirt Banter
Look at that. We’ve made it to the end of the season. It t...
As the Carolina Panthers prepare for the 2026 NFL Draft they do so in the awkward position of not knowing if quarterback Bryce Young is their long-term answer at the most important position in sports. Young enters 2026 on the final year of his rookie contract and Carolina has already picked up his fifth-year option […]
With the Montreal Canadiens losing (in regulation) their final game of the regular season, the Tampa Bay Lightning have secured home ice in their first-round match-up that starts this weekend. Is that a good thing? After all, this is a team that is 1-7 at home during their last three playoff series. In case you were wondering, yes, they lost all three of those series.
What’s been even more frustrating is that the Lightning had been very, very good at home during the regular season. Over t...
It might not have been the perfect performance he hoped for, but Noah Schultz pushed through a rough first frame of his major league debut to finish his 4 1/3-inning outing strongly, despite the White Sox (6 -11) dropping the first game of the series to the Rays (9-7), 8-5. Schultz needed 33 pitches to […]
The Rays took the first game of this series against the White Sox, with Shane McClanahan picking up his first win in well over a year while his teammates gathered twelve hits and six walks. Every player was on base at least once. This game received national attention because of the White Sox starter: Noah […]
Go Rays!
The NHL's unrestricted free agent market this summer will be.. well, pretty restricted . With so many of the big-name extensions being signed by notable pending UFAs already this season, that leaves only a couple of high-end names to have the market all to themselves. At forward, it's Alex Tuch of the Buffalo Sabres. And on defense, it's all coming up Darren Raddysh. The Tampa Bay Lightning 's surprising breakout 30-year-old had a year that no one would have dreamed of coming into the se...
The current Rays owners are eager — very eager — to get the funding for the proposed stadium squared away, and have given the Tampa and Hillsborough County a June deadline to approve funding, with a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) released late Friday. Just to recap, the Rays are asking the two governments to fund […]
It took 81 games to find an opponent this year, but after the Tampa Bay Lightning’s overtime win against the Detroit Red Wings, and the Buffalo Sabres’ regulation win against the Chicago Blackhawks, the playoff match-ups are set. Well, at least for the Lightning. Since Buffalo won in regulation, they hold the tiebreaker over Tampa Bay and clinched the Atlantic Division. So that means the Lightning and Montreal Canadiens will face-off in the playoffs for the fifth time in history.
While th...
It’s the next to last game of the season and that can mean only one thing – haiku recap time.
Like moss clings to stone
So do hopes for a title
Bolts in overtime win
The Goals
David Perron [13] (JT Compher, Ben Chiarot) 1-0 Red Wings
Conor Geekie [1] (Oliver Bjorkstrand) 1-1
Erik Cernak [3] (Ryan McDonagh, Zemgus Girgensons) 2-1 Lightning
Jake Guentzel [38] (Nikita Kucherov, J.J. Moser) 3-1 Lightning
Marco Ka...
This is not solely a piece to bash Jazz Chisholm Jr. I think he’s a very good player, and I am currently watching him relay signs while standing on second base, both to help his own hitters and mess with Rays’ starter Drew Rassmussen. I think he brings an energy to the club that they’ve […]
This week’s minor league roundup will only feature the numbers accumulated prior to the start of play on Monday. This was the 1st a week of full minor league play. According to FanGraphs (which factors in age and proximity to the big leagues), newcomer Austin Overn the top hitter in the Rays system; the Rays […]
The 2026 MLB season has had a very weird start. Many good teams — including the Cubs — are off to mediocre starts. In fact, other than the 11-4 Dodgers, the other 29 teams all have records between 10-6 and 6-10 entering Monday’s action: 10-6: Braves, Padres9-6: Pirates9-7: Guardians, Twins, Reds, Diamondbacks8-7: Orioles, Yankees, Rays, […]